Lisa on fitness and CF

By Lisa Pearce

It all started in 2006 at age 30.

I had been home from the UK for nearly a year and weighed the heaviest I had ever been, thanks to the copious amounts of beer I had been drinking in the UK.

I landed a job at Flight Centre Travel Group who had a division called ‘ Healthwise’ where you could hire personal trainers at a reduced cost. I decided it was time to start seeing a trainer and get myself fit and from here my relationship with fitness began.

Luke was the first trainer I had, he was a great guy and made me feel at ease working out. Along with seeing him twice weekly, I also joined the gym next door and started walking/running on the treadmill. At first, I had no goals or plans on where I wanted my fitness to take me, I just knew I had to get healthier. At the gym I started using the treadmill, it started with just walking then I thought I would like to try and become a runner, overtime the walking got less and the running increased, to where I was running only and increasing the speed on the treadmill to go faster as I was getting fitter. When I started it would look like a 1-2  minute walk and a 30-second run for example and slowly the running overtook the walking.

My 2nd trainer Ben was an ex-professional kickboxer who pushed me to be the fittest I had been. I saw him 3 times a week along with my running. We would do everything from boxing, kicking and weights. 

In 2015 it was time for another challenge so two friends and I signed up for the Pink Triathlon; now I didn’t find this very hard except for the swim. I have never enjoyed swimming and especially hated swimming carnival at school, so  I had some lessons to try and help my technique.  Since I was 21 I have had glasses so whenever I swam my head was always above water; in hindsight, I should have just kept swimming this way as it was more natural to me. The triathlon consisted of a 300m swim, 8km bike ride and a 3km run, and completed it in 56 minutes which I was pretty happy with – the swim really let me down. But once again I was proud that I had challenged myself.

After a few years with Ben, I changed up my training and started Crossfit, but after 12 months I found I was getting injured and have since done various gyms, with the most recent at Fitstop.

I love Fitstop, I can be a pretty competitive person which I think comes down to having CF and proving that I can be fitter than others especially now that I’m in my late 40’s. I often find myself trying to outdo the young 20-year-olds, and I can say that most of the time I am fitter and quicker than them!  I even have had a few of the younger girls comment on how I smashed out the workout.

As my fitness journey continues I will try and find a new challenge as I also find it’s also great for your mental state. If you are thinking about starting a new fitness journey, find what you enjoy that will be the difference as to whether it works. Try not to compare yourself to others, another day moving your body means a fitter and healthier you!

 From what I hear from the CF nurses and doctors, a lot of people with CF use excuses that they can’t do certain things, and this can be the case for many unwell people. But you don’t need to run a marathon to be fit, we know that physical fitness, either weights, cardio, pilates or yoga can help us live better lives. And I don’t plan on going anywhere for a long time!